More than 300 tornado insurance claims lodged

Insurers received 301 claims in the 48 hours after a tornado ripped through the South Auckland suburb of Papatoetoe on Saturday morning, the Insurance Council of New Zealand says.

‘‘We expect this figure to increase as residents assess the damage and lodge claims with their insurers,’’ said council chief executive Tim Grafton.

An estimate of the final claims cost of the tornado would not be ready until August, he said.

The country’s largest insurer IAG, which owns the State, AMI and NZI brands, had received 117 claims so far.

IAG had claims assessors and builders on the ground inspecting homes within hours of the tornado, said Dean MacGregor, executive general manager for claims at IAG. ‘‘Since Saturday afternoon, our teams have been in the community to assess damage and gather necessary information to process customers’ insurance claims.

‘‘With further bad weather forecast, our priority has been to assess damage to broken windows and roofing, so people’s homes can be secured as quickly as possible,’’ MacGregor said.

The majority of the 117 claims were for home insurance policies, followed by contents insurance.

‘‘We expect to receive more claims over the coming days and weeks,’’ MacGregor said.

The tornado ripped roofs from homes, and killed one person and injured at least two others at Ports of Auckland’s South Auckland freight hub.

The message from insurers immediately after the tornado was for homeowners to stay safe and to reach out to their insurer for support.

‘‘It is exactly these types of sudden unexpected events that your insurer is there to support you and we know insurers have already been providing support to their customers,’’ Grafton said.

‘‘Once the initial shock has passed, they can turn their attention to the tidy-up with their insurer there to help them get things back to normal,’’ he said.